Reading with a twist: Lightning Thief
by chinfev1203
Summary: A bright light engulfed them when the light died they were all sitting in a big living room with a note telling them to read a book. And a few unexpected people join them.
1. A Note From Apollo And The Fates

It was a normal day at camp half-blood or as normal as it can get in a Greek camp full of Greek demigods. It was May 21, one month before the summer solstice, one month before they leave for the Roman Camp.

Annabeth, Piper and Jason were helping Leo build the ship,

Clarisse and Chris were sparring

Travis and Connor were being chased by Katie for pulling a prank on the Demeter Cabin

Rachael was quietly sitting in her cave

Grover was playing his reed pipes with the other Satyrs

When suddenly a bright light engulfed them when the light died they were all sitting in a big living room, Piper was about to open her mouth to ask where they are when Annabeth who was beside her shouted Thalia! Nico! And hugged the said girl.

"Where are we?" Nico asked

"I don't know" Thalia said one minute I was with the hunters then a bright light appeared and next thing I knew I'm here"

"Us too" Annabeth said "One minute we were building the Argo 2 then a bright light appeared and then were here"

The other demigods and satyr and the oracle nodded in Agreement

There was another bright light, when the light died they saw a note on the coffee table. Annabeth reached for it and read it.

_**Dear Demigods, Satyr and my lovely Oracle**_

_**The Fates and I the great god Apollo have brought you here to read a book about your missing leader Percy Jackson you will find out about his adventures from his first quest to his Adventure in the roman camp. The books will be in Percy's Point of view all though some of the books will be in another heroes Point of view. You will not leave this place unless you finish the books and don't worry while you are reading the time will be frozen so don't worry, after you are done reading the books you will return to your camp and continue doing what you were doing before we have brought you here. Enjoy reading!**_

_**P.S**_

_**A few other people will join you as you read**_

_**Sincerely yours **_

_**The Fates**_

_**And the Great, wonderful god Apollo…**_

After Annabeth was done reading a book appeared on the coffee table

Annabeth picked it up and read the title "Percy Jackson and the Olympians the Lightning Thief"

"Well we better start reading" Rachael said

Annabeth opened the book but before she could start reading another bright light appeared when the light died there in front of them stood none other than Percy Jackson with two other girls and a boy.

"Percyyyyyyy" Grover bleated and gave him a bone crushing hug

"Hey G-man what's up?" Percy asked when Grover released him from the hug

All of the demigods minus Piper, Jason and Leo gave Percy welcome back hugs and Greetings Except for Annabeth who remained seated.

While Hazel and Reyna Gave Jason Welcome Back greetings

After the welcome back hugs and Greetings all the Demigods looked at Annabeth, she got up and walked towards Percy who was smiling that he finally got to see his girlfriend again. But to Percy's surprise instead of a kiss or hug Annabeth slapped him hard on the face.

"Ow what was that for?"

"That was for leaving me" Annabeth snapped

"It wasn't my fault blame Hera" Percy snapped back

Annabeth hugged him and whispered in his ear

"I'm sorry I slapped you it's just that I miss you so much"

"It's ok I missed you too" he whispered back

Thalia cleared her throat the couple stop hugging and looked at her

"Maybe the three demigods should introduced themselves you know the ones he haven't met yet and Percy's three companions"

"Yeah, right of course" Annabeth said

Piper stepped forward

"Hi I'm Piper Mclean daughter of Aphrodite" she said "We've heard a lot about you"

"Percy Jackson" he said and they shook hands

Leo also stepped forward

"Leo Valdez, Son of Hephaestus" They also shook hands

Then Jason steeped forward

"Jason Grace, Son of Jupiter"

"So you're Jason I've heard a lot about you back at camp Jupiter"

"I've heard a lot about you I can't go far at camp half-blood without hearing your name" he smiled and they shook hands

"And Jason's also my brother" Thalia said "We have the same mom and dad"

"You have a brother?" Percy asked "How come no one told me?"

"Cause no one knew, I didn't even know" Annabeth said

"Oh" Percy said

"And by the way this is Hazel, Frank and Reyna" Percy said pointing to his three companions

"Hi my names Hazel Lévesque, Daughter of Pluto", the girl with long, curly cinnamon brown colored hair and hazel golden eyes said

"Frank Zang, Son of Mars" the boy with chubby, babyish face with black hair in a military-style cut said

"Reyna, daughter of Bellona" the girl with piercing black eyes and black hair said

"Maybe you guys should introduce yourself too" Percy said

"Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena"

"Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus and lieutenant to the hunters of Artemis"

"Grover Underwood, Satyr, and lord of the wild"

"Rachael Elizabeth Dare, Oracle of Delphi"

"Clarisse La Rue, Daughter of Ares"

"Katie Gardner, Daughter of Demeter"

"Travis"

"And Connor Stoll"

"Son's of Hermes"

"Chris Rodriguez, Also a son of Hermes"

"Piper Mclean, Daughter of Aphrodite" she introduced herself again

"Leo Valdez, Son of Hephaestus" Leo also introduced himself again

"And Nico Di Angelo, Son of Hades"

"Nico!" Hazel, Frank and Reyna yelled

"You're Greek?" Hazel asked

"Yes, sorry for not telling you" Nico said

"And I'm still mad at you for telling me that you didn't know me" Percy said

"What?" almost everyone yelled

"Huh" Nico said "I haven't even seen you in the roman camp yet"

"Wait what date did you three come from?" Annabeth asked

"June 24 2010"Reyna said

"Well we come from May 21 2010" Nico said "One month before"

"That explains it" Percy said"

"Wait where are we and what are we doing here?" Percy asked

Annabeth read the note Again and showed them the book

"Great were going to read about my thoughts as if getting kidnapped by the cow goddess isn't enough" Percy whined

"Well we better start reading" Rachael said

"Ok" Annabeth said as she sat down and opened the book everyone else also sat down, Percy sat beside Annabeth beside him was Grover beside Annabeth was Thalia. In front of them was Rachael, Leo, Piper and Jason . On the other coach next to Jason sat Reyna, Hazel and Frank and Nico. On the coach next to Rachael was Katie, Travis, Connor, Chris and Clarisse. The coaches formed a square.

Annabeth read the title of the book again

"Percy Jackson and the Olympians the Lightning Thief" she said "Chapter one"


	2. I Accidentally Vaporize My Teacher

**Chapter 1**

**"I Accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher,"** Annabeth read

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"Who does?" Travis said

All the demigods nodded in agreement

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**

"Cover your ears!" the Stolls yelled

"Your not the best person to give advise Seaweed Brain" Annabeth said

"I know that" Percy said

**Close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"That won't work" Thalia said

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

The demigods nodded in agreement

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think its fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before**_**they**_**sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

"Noooo It's Peter Johnson" Thalia said sarcastically

**I'm twelve years old. Until a**_**few**_**months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a****private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Yes" everyone in the room said

While Percy pouted

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"Even you agree" Rachael said

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

**I know—it sounds like torture.**

"No it doesn't" Annabeth said "It's interesting and besides it's your life"

"I know that now" Percy said

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee.**

"Sounds like Chiron" Rachael said

"That's because it is Chiron" Percy said

"Oh"

"Wait" Reyna said "The Chiron the Trainer heroes, the trainer of Hercules and all that?"

"Yes" The Greek demigods answered

"But shouldn't he be dead?" Reyna asked

"The truth is, he _can't _be dead" Annabeth explained "You see, eons ago the gods granted his wish. He could continue the work he loves he could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed him"

"And his still needed" Percy said

"Oh ok" Reyna said

**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep. I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"You'll get in trouble wouldn't you?" Hazel asked

"Yup"

**Boy was I wrong.**

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

Everyone was laughing

"Why are you not our Brother?" the Stoll's asked

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. **

Everyone was laughing while Percy pouted

"Seaweed Brain" Annabeth said she loves saying his nick name again especially since his with her now.

"Sort of?" Thalia asked

"What were you aiming for anyway?" Rachael asked

But there was no answer and Annabeth continued to read

**And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

"And you jinx it" Nico said

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover**

**In the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

"Yuck" Katie said "How dare she do that to you?"

"If I ever see that girl I will seriously injure her" Thalia growled

Everyone nodded in agreement

"Thanks guys" Grover said "nice to know you really care about me"

"Of course we do Goat boy" Travis said "You're the best"

"The best Satyr ever" Nico said

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**

"Ouch" Grover said faking hurt

"Sorry" Percy said

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Way to blow your cover Goat Boy" Thalia said

"Sorry" Grover apologized "But they were really good"

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death **

"Death?" Hazel asked

**by in-school suspension**

"Oh" Hazel said

**if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"Mildly entertaining?" Annabeth asked

Percy just shrugged

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

"Do it!" Clarisse yelled

And everyone agreed

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

"But not on your head" Piper said

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"Why'd you pulled him back" Clarisse and Thalia asked

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there.**

"Yeah you should've" Thalia said

**In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"What kind of mess" Hazel asked

"You'll see" Percy said

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"More" Annabeth said

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a**_**stele,**_**for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting,**

"Wow you actually listened" Thalia said

"I listen" Percy said "When it's interesting and besides it's my life"

"Hey that's what I said" Annabeth said

"So?"

**but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodd's, would give me the evil eye.**

"Why?" Hazel asked "All you were trying to do is learn"

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

"You caused the nervous breakdown" Connor asked

"No" Percy said

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn.**

"That's not right" Connor said "The devils Spawns Nico"

"Agreed" Thalia said

"Hey" Nico yelled

**She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Way to blow your cover" Clarisse said

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the steel, and I turned around and said, "Will you**_**shut up**_**?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Of course it did" Annabeth said

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?**

"Busted" the Stoll's said in a sing song voice

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it.**

**"That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied.**

**"And he**_**did**_**this because ..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god,**

"god?" Annabeth asked

"I corrected myself" Percy defended himself

**And—"**

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan,"**

"See?" Percy said

**I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.**

"So dad looks like a rock" Thalia said

Thunder boomed

Thalia looked up

"Sorry" she said

**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"You've summed up a lot of fighting in just a few sentences" Annabeth said

**Some snickers from the group.**

"Why are they snickering?" Leo asked

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life.**

"Well if you're a demigod, yes you will use it in real life" Piper said

**Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

"Well if you're going to be a teacher and teach about Greek Mythology it's going to appear on your job application" Chris said

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"Busted" The Stoll' said

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

"Oh my gods we think like goat oh no" the Stoll's yelled running around the room

Katie and Rachael got up from their chair and slapped them in the head

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

"Yeah, those radar ears ruined a lot of good pranks" Connor said

And Travis nodded in agreement

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

"Of course you don't know" Annabeth said

"You don't know anything" Thalia continued

"Hey I know a lot of things" Percy said

"Like what?" Nico asked

But Annabeth continued reading before Percy can answer

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"Happy Note?" Piper asked

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"Yup, definitely everything" Grover said

And all the Greek Demigods nodded in agreement

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

"Oh?" Thalia asked "That's all you can say"

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"It's all for the best seaweed brain" Annabeth said

"I know that" Percy said

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!" **

"What Ho?" Frank asked

**and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever**_**lived,**_**and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be**_**as good;**_**he expected me to be**_**better.**_**And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

"You're not the only one" Connor said

And everyone nodded in agreement

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"He'd probably been there" Grover said

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas.**

"Why is dad mad?" Jason asked

**We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"Wow Jupiter I mean Zeus really is mad" Frank said

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, **

Everyone looked at the son's of Hermes

"I hope she's not our sister" Chris said

"And even if she was" Travis said "I hope dad doesn't claim her"

**And, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from**_**that**_**school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

"Of course not" Travis said "cause if you were a Genius"

"You'll be a son of Athena" Connor continued

"And then you can't date Annabeth" Chris finished

"The love of your life" the three said together

The couple blushed crimson

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

"Really Grover?" Katie asked

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"You really love your mom don't you?" Hazel asked

"Yup" Percy said

"She's awesome" Nico said

"You've met her?" Hazel asked her brother

"Yup"

"She's magnificent" Thalia said

"You've met her too?" Jason asked

"Yeah" Thalia said "she's a cool mom"

Percy smiled

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

"Ok where can I find that girl?" Thalia asked angrily

**"Oops." **

"Oops?" Reyna asked

**She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

"Cool" Leo exclaimed "Dude your powers are awesome"

"Yup they sure are awesome" Percy said

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

"Awesome" Leo said

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, **

"Poor?" Reyna asked

"Little?" Hazel asked

**Promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

"What is it with the honey?" Leo asked "Is she half bee or something"

"She's definitely something" Percy asked

"Monster?" Reyna asked

"Yup" Grover said

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"No Percy do not and I mean do not guess your punishment" Connor said

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Yup" Jason said

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me.**_**I**_**pushed her."**

"You're a good friend Grover" Hazel said

"Thanks" Grover said

"See?" Thalia said "That's why you're the best satyr ever"

"The best" Nico said

"Thanks guys" Grover said

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—**_**will**_—**stay—here."**

"That's harsh" Piper said

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "**_**Now**_**."**

"Ok I'm really getting tiered with the honey thing" Jason said

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"Oh real scary" Annabeth said

"It is" the Stoll's and Nico said

And Percy smirked

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

"How'd she get there so fast?" Leo asked

**How'd she get there so fast?**

"Anabeth why'd you copy me?" Leo asked

"I didn't copy you look" Annabeth said as she showed Leo the Book

"So Leo thinks like Percy" Piper said

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"Our brain misinterpreting things?" Jason said "More like the mortals brain misinterpreting things"

"All because of the mist" Katie said

Stupid mist Piper thought

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

"So much for Keeping an eye on you" Annabeth said

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"I don't think that's her plan" Nico said

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

"HA" Nico said "I was right"

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

"Oh no" Hazel said

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

"Maybe she did" Nico said

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

"Again with the Honey" Frank said

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

"Get away with what?" Rachael asked

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

"Definitely evil" Nico said

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

"Think again Seaweed Brain" Annabeth said

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

"Confess?" Frank asked

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

"Neither do we" Piper said

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

"Seriously why are you not our brother" Travis said

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on**_**Tom Sawyer**_**from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"Why is that worse" Annabeth said

"Dyslexia" Percy said

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"Kindly ones?" Thalia asked

"Yup" Annabeth said

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

"Pen?" Leo asked "what will you do with a pen write on Mrs. Dodds Face?"

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

"Cool" Leo said "It's like your coin Jason"

"I kind of miss my coin" Jason said

"You lost it?" Reyna said

"Yup" Jason said

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

"Wimp" Clarisse said

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

"Again with the honey" Leo said

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"Naturally?" Piper asked

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water.**_**Hisss!**_

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

"Nobody" Grover said

Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Clarisse looked at each other and burst out laughing

"Why are you guys Laughing" Jason asked

"Nothing it's just something about my second year at camp" Percy said

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

"Magic Mushroom?" Reyna asked

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

"No" Katie said

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who" Frank asked

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our**_**teacher.**_ **Duh!"**

"Ok I'm confused" Leo said

"It's the mist" Annabeth said

"It's still affecting him" Reyna said

And Annabeth nodded

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"No I am definitely not feeling alright" Percy said

"You do know you're talking to a book right?" Annabeth asked

Percy blushed

"Anyway that's the end of the Chapter" Annabeth said "who wants to read next"

"I'll read" Thalia said


	3. Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death

**Chapter 2**

**Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death,"** Thalia read.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly.**

**This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me.**

"That sounds like a cool prank" The Stoll's said

**The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho. It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost.**

"I bet it's Grover's fault" Travis said

**But Grover couldn't fool me.**

"Ha I was right" Travis said

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, and then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"Grover you're a bad liar" Chris said

"You want lessons?" Connor asked

"Uhmmm" Grover said

"Will take that as a yes" Travis said

**Something was going on. Something**_**had**___**happened at the museum.**

"Not just something a kindly one attacked you" Katie said

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

"I do not want to have that dream" Leo said

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room.**

"Why is dad so mad" Jason asked

But no one answered

**A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.**

"Tsk tsk poor poor Percy" Connor said mockingly

**I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot.**

"What does it mean?" Leo asked looking at Annabeth

"A drunkard" Annabeth answered

The whole room burst out laughing

**I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

"Well now I know" Percy said

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

"Wimp" Clarisse said

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

"Paul's not like that" Nico said

"Not Paul" Percy said "Someone before Him"

"Oh" Nico said

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view** **of the woods outside my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend,**

"Thanks Perce" Grover said "You're a good friend too"

**even if he was a little strange.**

"Or not" Grover said faking hurt

"Sorry" Percy apologized

**I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.**

"Only Latin?" Annabeth asked

"At least I studied" Percy said

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"Good" Annabeth said

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the**_**Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology**___**across my dorm room.**

"Why'd you throw it" Annabeth asked

"I think it'll be mentioned" Percy said

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,**

"Well you know now" Annabeth said

"You've met Charon?" Reyna asked

"Yup" Grover said

"How?" Reyna asked

"We went to the Underworld during our first quest"

**or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes.**_**I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**_

"We will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson" Travis said mimicking Chiron's voice

And Katie slapped him in the head

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

"Good you picked it up" Annabeth said

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

"Oh Percy wants' to impress Chiron" Rachael said

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said,**

_**"...**_ **worried about Percy, sir."**

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper,**

"Sure you're not" Rachael said

**but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

**I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the**_**school**_**! Now that we know for sure, and**_**they**___**know too—"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

"Yup we really need him to mature more" Clarisse said

"Hey" Percy said

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice dead line—**_**"**_

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

**"Sir, he**_**saw**___**her... ."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

"You still blame yourself?" Thalia asked

Grover looked down

"Grover I told you it's not your fault it was choice" Thalia said

Grover smiled at her and she smiled back

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"No!"Connor shouted

"Don't ever" Travis said

"Give" Connor continued

"Your" Travis continued

"Position" They both said

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow**_**clop-clop-clop,**___**like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, and then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

**"Don't remind me."**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

"But he wasn't there all night" Leo said

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

"Nope he won't be ready" Nico said

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

"Everything was not ok" Percy said

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

"That won't work" Reyna and Jason said together which caused them to blush and they looked at each other after a few seconds of staring at each other they both looked away blushing crimson but no one noticed except for Piper who got very jealous but didn't let it show.

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger**

"Because you were in danger" Frank said

"His always in danger" Grover said

"I always have the rottenest luck" Percy said

"Having a girlfriend is rotten luck?" Travis asked

"What no" Percy said "Of course not"

"She's one of the best things that ever happened to me" Percy continued

"One of the best things?" Annabeth asked

"Well living is one of them and my mom, my dad, Tyson, Grover and"

"I get it" Annabeth said

"And even if I don't say a thing you understand" Percy said

Annabeth moved closer to Percy

"Aww you two are so cute" Piper said "Oh my gods mom is getting to me"

"Is beauty queen becoming more like a daughter of Aphrodite" Leo said teasingly

"Shut up Valdez" Piper said

Hazel stiffened when she heard Leo's last name, ever since they got here she's been a little freaked out on seeing Leo because he looks like Sammy but she didn't let it show, and she has been trying hard not to look at him.

Frank sensing that Hazel stiffened whispered "Are you ok?"

"I'm ok" She whispered back

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,**

"Three hours!" the Stoll's and Leo yelled standing up

"Sit down" Piper yelled

**My eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

"Why?" Chris said

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

"You'll take it the wrong way won't you?" Annabeth asked

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

"What!" Annabeth shouted

"Relax" Percy said "I hate her"

Annabeth calmed down and Thalia started reading again

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

"I think he wasn't really sure what to say" Rachael said

**My eyes stung.**

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

"I'll feel the same way if I were in your shoes" Leo said

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

"Maybe a better choice of word would've been great" Jason said

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

**"Percy—"**

**But I was already gone.**

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were**_**rich**___**juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"You better not let your dad hear you say that Percy" Grover said

"You're dads not a nobody" Thalia said " He's a god

"So his Important" Annabeth said "And you're not a nobody"

"Yeah" Travis said "You're Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, Savior of Olympus, and Slayer of the Minotaur, Medusa, and the Nemean Lion and Many more other Monstes"

"And don't forget his also the defeater of Ares, Atlas, Hyperion, and Kronos" Connor said

"And the Boyfriend of Annabeth Chase" Chris said

The couple blushed crimson

"And Besides I don't think you want to be a child of someone rich" Rachael said "I'm an example"

"Me too" Piper said

"Wait" Percy said "Your last names Mclean, You're dads Tristan Mclean?"

Piper nodded and gave him a look that said _Drop it_

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

"That's rude" Hazel said

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had,**

"Stalker!" The Stoll's shouted

"Hey!" Grover yelled

**So there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen.**

"I was" Grover said

**Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"That must've given you a heart attack" Annabeth said

"It did" Grover said

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

"Nooooo!" The Stoll's shouted "Never confess"

Piper Charm speak them to shut up and they did

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much**_**did**___**you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

"Not much?" Rachael asked "Really?"

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers …"**

"Demon Math teachers" Leo said snickering

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

"Yup, Very Bad" Connor said

"You need Lessons" Travis said

**His ears turned pink.**

"Like it is now" Leo said

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

_**Grover Underwood**_

_**Keeper**_

_**Half-Blood Hill**_

_**Long Island, New York**_

**(800) 009-0009**

**"What's Half-"**

"Half meaning Half-god, Half-human" Annabeth said

"We know" The demigods said

Annabeth rolled her eyes and Thalia continued reading

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

**He nodded. "Or...or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

"Harsh" Piper said

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me.**

**And here he was acting like he was the one who defended**_**me.**_

"Well if you put it that way" Leo said but Piper looked at him and he shut up

**"Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs.**

"Eew" The girls said

While the boys and Clarisse rolled their eyes

**The driver cursed and steered the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice**_**.**___**There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

"How Big?" Leo asked

"You'll see" Percy said

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

"Is that who I think it is?" Annabeth asked

Percy nodded

"Why didn't you tell me about that?" Annabeth asked

"About what?" Jason asked

"You'll see" Percy said

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

Thalia who recognized who they were looked at her friend with concern

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

Nico who also Recognized who they were looked concern and nervous at the same time

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"Not the right time to joke around Perce" Nico said

"Why?"Piper asked

But no one answered

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

"I agree" Thalia said

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

Now everyone recognized who the three ladies were and started worrying about their friend and looked at him with concern

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

"You should've listen to him" Reyna said

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

"Not a good choice Percy" Jason said

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that**_**snip**___**across four lanes of traffic.**

Everyone was either looking nervous or looking worried or both or looking at Percy with concern

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

"On a time like that you still joke around" Annabeth said

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

"I'm guessing the bus won't start unless he sees them cut the yarn" Reyna said

"Probably" Annabeth said

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

"Oh no"

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

"A lot" Clarisse said

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

"NO" Annabeth said "worse"

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**

"You're very observant aren't you" Piper said

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

"Of course it's a big deal" Nico said

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

"What Last time?" Frank asked

**"What last time?"**

"Grover it was my fault stop blaming yourself" Thalia said

"What was your fault?" Jason asked

"I'm sure it'll be mentioned" Thalia said

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

"Grover" Thalia said

"Sorry" Grover apologized

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

"Yes" Reyna said

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"And that's the end of the chapter" Thalia said

"I'm hungry" Leo said

"Well it is Dinner time" Annabeth said

"How'd you know?" Leo asked

"There's a clock behind you" Annabeth said

And everyone looked and saw that Annabeth was right

Then suddenly there was a bright light, when the light died there was another note that said

_**Dear Demigods, Satyr, And My Lovely Oracle**_

_**I know that you are all hungry, as you can see there are two doors one behind the chair where Percy, Annabeth, Thalia and Grover are sitting that leads to the kitchen and the door behind**_ _**Rachael, Leo, Piper and Jason**__** leads to your rooms and the rest room**_

_**From**_

_**The coolest and greatest god ever Apollo**_


	4. Dinner

**DINNER**

They all went inside the kitchen and was surprised when they found 4 large boxes of pizza on the table and cans of coke.

"Wow I really liking Apollo" Leo said

And everyone agreed

Another bright light appeared when the light died there was another note that said

_**I told you I am the greatest god ever **_

_**-Apollo-**_

"You definitely" The Stoll's agreed "After our dad of course"

They all sat down around the table and ate.

"Hey Annabeth" Travis said

"What?"

"Can we like stop reading after dinner and explore around or hang out, interview Percy about his where a bout's the past few months"

"Yeah sure" Annabeth said

"Yes" The Stoll's said

"I knew it" Connor said

"You knew that she'll say yes?" Piper asked

"No, we knew that if I we use the word Percy she'll say yes" Travis said

While Annabeth glared at him

"I just remembered something" Said Percy

"What is it?" Annabeth asked

Percy turned to Jason and asked

"Hey Jason want to be Praetor again?"

"Huh?" Jason asked

"You're just going to give it up?" Reyna asked

"Yeah" Percy said

"It just took you 7 months to become Praetor?" Jason asked

"7 months?" Frank asked "Percy's just been in Camp Jupiter for a week, well technically a day since we had a quest"

"That fast?" Jason asked

"Yup" Hazel said

"What's a praetor" Chris asked

"It's the leader of Camp Jupiter" Jason said

"You're just going to give it up?" Jason asked Percy

"Yeah" Percy said

"Why?" Jason asked

"I never wanted to be Praetor" Percy said

"A man who turns down power?" Jason asked

"Hey that's what Reyna said" Percy said "Jason your Roman I'm Greek you'll be a better Praetor and besides you were the praetor before I got there"

Jason stared at him thinking _he really doesn't want just like that, a man that turns down power; you really are something Percy Jackson_

"So you want it?" Percy asked

"Yeah Sure" Jason asked

"Then it's settled, Reyna his your colleague again"

"Percy?" Jason said

"Yeah?"

"Thanks"

"For what?"

"For giving me back the Position"

Percy smiled

"That's Kelp head for you bro" Thalia said "Never wants Power"

They finished eating and decided to go back to the Living room to find out of each other's adventures, except for the Stoll's who went exploring. They sat in the same chairs and started talking, Percy started telling his friends how he woke up at the wolf house, how he got to Camp Jupiter, And about the quest. While Hazel and Frank filed in the things Percy forgot. He got slapped by Annabeth for gambling his life with Phineas. But she calmed down when she found out that it actually helped him get his memories back. After Percy told them about his time at Camp Jupiter, Jason told them about how he got to Camp Half-Blood for the sake of Reyna, Hazel and Frank. And Piper and Leo filled in things he forgot. He told them how he woke up on the bus but left out the part about him holding Piper's hand, about the attack with the Venti's or Storm Spirits, about how Annabeth found them and Toke them to Camp but he didn't left out the part Annabeth yelled at the sky which made Percy smile, how Hera appeared to him, how they got the quest, how Annabeth can't go to the quest cause she has to look for Percy which again made Percy smile how the quest went, up to the part when they got back to Camp Half-Blood and started building the boat. After Jason, Piper and Leo finished telling them their quest they decided to go and check out their rooms. They found out that each of them has a room that fits their personality. And also found out that there was a game room, they went inside and found out that the Stoll Brothers were inside, they joined the brothers in the game room until they decided that it was time for bed, they all went to their respective room. Except for Annabeth who wasn't that sleepy decided to go to Percy, hoping his still awake and ask him more questions about his where a bout's and to catch up with her boyfriend. Luckily he was still awake.

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**CHINFEV1203….**


	5. You're Laughing At Me

**ANNABETH'S P.O.V**

We all decided to go to our rooms to get some sleep. But since I wasn't that sleepy I decided to go to Percy's room which was beside my room, to catch up, ask him more questions about his time at the Roman Camp. I hope his still awake; I went to Percy's room and knocked on the door, he quickly opened it.

"Hey Percy" I said

"Hey Annabeth" he said "Aren't you sleepy yet?"

"Not yet, so I decided to go to you to catch up on things" I said "that is if you're not sleepy yet because if you are we can talk tomorrow"

"No it's ok" Percy said "Let's talk"

"You sure?" cause you look like you need some sleep"

"I'm sure and besides I haven't talked to you for months"

I went inside his room and sat on his bed, and wow his room looks like cabin 3 except this room only has one bed, but one really caught my attention was his nightstand, on his nightstand was a picture of me.

"Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you have a picture of me in your nightstand?"

"Oh….um…..well"

"Well?"

"Well the room reflects on our personality and what we want to be seen in our room so…"

"So you want to see a picture of me in your room?"

"Yeah"

"Why?" I asked as I inched closer

"Well because you're my girlfriend" he said "So what do you want to talk about?"

"Well you said earlier that you regained you're memory because of the Gorgon's blood"

"Yeah"

"So who did you remember first?"

"You"

"Me?"

"Yeah" he said "When I had no memory all I could remember is you, the way you look and that you're my Girlfriend and when I drank the Gorgon's Blood I remembered you completely"

"Really?"

"Yeah" he said "I couldn't stop thinking about you, all I want to do was to find you"

"I'm here now"

"You know..." he said then paused

"Know what?"

"Nah you'll probably laugh at me"

"Come on tell me"

"Promise not to laugh"

"Promise"

"When I was at Camp Jupiter and I saw the city and the families there a thought came to me and…"

"And?" as I inched even closer to him

"I thought that maybe one day will be like those families there"

"You thought that maybe one day will be a family" I said stifling a laugh

"Your laughing at me, you promised me you won't laugh" Percy whined

"I know, I just can't help it" I said "I'm not laughing at you, I actually like it"

"You do?"

"Yeah" I said "I don't really know if we'll live that long but what I do know is that I Love you and I Want to Be with You"

He smiled

"I Love you to Wise Girl"

We sat there and talked some more until my eyes started to drop.

"You better get some sleep Wise Girl"

"Yeah Good night Seaweed Brain"

"Goodnight Wise Girl" he said and kissed me good night

"And this time I won't disappear the next day"

I smiled then walked out of his room and went to mine.

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**CHINFEV1203…..**


	6. Grover Unexpectedly Loses his Pants,

**BREAKFAST**

**Please read Authors note**

**Authors Note: I know I haven't updated for a long time and I am very SORRY I have been a bit busy. I was going to update a few days ago but A relative of mine celebrated her 18****th**** birthday so I hand to practice a dance number. And also the first 2 weeks of school just finished and I've been a bit busy during those 2 weeks. Anyway really SORRY**

**And**

**I want to thank everyone who reviewed my story and to those who have alerted and added my story to their favorites.**

**Enjoy!**

The Demigod's woke up and went to the kitchen again they were surprised on what they saw. There were heaps of eggs, pancakes, bacon, anything you want to have during breakfast was there. They all ate their breakfast and went back to the living room to read.

"So who's reading?" Thalia asked

"I'll read" Nico said "I'm next to you anyway"

Thalia grabbed the book from the coffee table and gave it to Nico.

**Chapter 3**

"**Grover Unexpectedly Loses his Pants,"**Nico read

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**

"That's rude" Katie said

**I know, I know. It was rude.**

"Good, you know" Katie said

**But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"**

"That would've freaked me out too" Leo said

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom.**

"Some promise" Grover mumbled

"Sorry" Percy apologized

**Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.**

**A word about my mother, before you meet her.**

"Cool mom" Thalia said

"Awesome mom" Nico said

"Best Mom" Annabeth said

"Caring mom" Rachael said

"Loving Mom" Grover said

**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, **

"Definitely" Thalia said

**Which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**

"So since Percy has rotten luck his one of the People?" Leo said

"Yeah" Grover said "His a good friend, his very loyal"

"Thanks G-man" Percy said

**Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her.**

**She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

The girls cooed at this

**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. **

"He visited you" Annabeth said

**My mom doesn't like to talk about him because**_**it**___**makes her sad. She has no pictures.**

**See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

"Not a lie, but not exactly the truth" Annabeth said

"Your mom's really smart" Reyna said

**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

"Yup, not an easy kid" Nico said

"Every demigod is not an easy kid" Annabeth said

**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, **

**who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him,** **then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nick named him Smelly Gabe.**

**I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

"Eew"

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example.**

"Why?" Asked Leo

"You'll see"

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

"Yuck"

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

"You got any cash?" Annabeth said filled with disgust "That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?"

Percy smirked and

Nico laughed a little before reading again

**That was it. No**_**Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**_

"Well you look at that the two love birds think alike" Clarisse said

The said couple blushed crimson

**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**

"I don't think that made him handsome" Piper said

"Agreed" Percy said

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**

**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**

"Disgusting" Annabeth said and the girls nodded, even Clarisse.

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**

"_So that's why she married him, to hide Percy's demigod scent" Annabeth thought _

**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. **

"I'm surprised he had the brain cells to know that" Annabeth said

**Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. **

"At least that one's nice" Hazel said

**"Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**

"Yeah the kid just got there" Connor said

**"Am I**_**right**_**?**_**"**___**Gabe repeated.**

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

"Yuck" the girls said

**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**

"Did he lose?" Travis asked

"Don't know" Percy said

**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**

"Brain boy's not the right nick name for Percy" Thalia said

"So Aqua dude fits?" Travis asked

"No kelp head fits" Thalia said

"Nah Prissy the wimp fits better" Clarisse said

"No it's seaweed brain" Annabeth said

"No aqua dude"

"Kelp head"

"Prissy the Wimp"

"Seaweed Brain"

"Aqua dude"

"Kelp head"

"Prissy the wimp"

"Seawead Brain"

"Guys!" Grover yelled

"What?" Travis, Thalia, Clarisse and Annabeth shouted

"Let's just let Percy Pick" Grover said

"Well?" Thalia asked

"I'll pick Seaweed Brain because I'm used to it already, and Annabeth gave me that nick name, and it's not much of an insult unlike the ones that you guys were giving me" Percy said

"See?" Annabeth said teasingly "I was right as always"

"Whatever" Thalia said and rolled her eyes "I'm still going to call you Kelp head

"And I'm still going to call you Prissy" Clarisse said

**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study."**

"Study" Annabeth said "He studies? I think all he does there is read old car magazines"

**He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines,**

"Couples really do think alike" Chris said

And the said couple blushed

**But he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**

"Gross"

**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds,**

**or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak.**

"Wimp" Clarisse said

"Oh shut up" Percy said

**I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

"Mamma's Boy" Clarisse said

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room.**

Everyone wished that they had a mom like Sally

**Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad.**

"Like Annabeth" Thalia teased

**I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

**"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**

"Lucky" The son's of Hermes and Leo said

And everyone nodded in agreement

**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?**

**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**

"Like I said Momma's boy" Clarisse said

**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"**

Everyone gritted their teeth

**I gritted my teeth.**

"Weird" Nico said

"Why?" Connor asked

"Cause were all greeting our teeth" Nico answered

"Oh"

**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**

"Or to a Greek god" Thalia said

"Or to an English teacher" Annabeth said** (A/N Paul Blofis is an English teacher right? Correct me if I'm wrong)**

**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself.**

"Almost?"

**I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**

**Until that trip to the museum **

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"**

"Yeah Prissy did something scare mommas baby boy?" Clarisse teased

"Oh shut up Clarisse"

**"No, Mom."**

"Don't lie to your mom Prissy"

"I told you to shut up Clarisse" Percy hissed

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.**

"You know she knows" Annabeth said

"I know that now" Percy said

**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**

"See?" Annabeth said

"I know I know" Percy said

**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."**

"Well that will get your attention" Annabeth said

**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

**"Three nights—same cabin."**

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

"Not enough money?" Thalia said

"But he plays poker, unbelievable" Annabeth said

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**

**I wanted to punch him,**

"You should've punched the lights out of him" Thalia growled

"Don't worry Thalia it's all taken care of" Percy said

"How?"

"You'll see"

"Come on Kelp head what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything mom did"

"Was it bad"

"Yup very bad"

"Good enough for me"

**but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

**"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."**

**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**

"He better" Hazel said

"Don't worry we went that's how I got to camp" Percy said

**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your step father is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**

"Bribery" the Stoll's said

"You're" Connor said

"Mom" Continued Travis

"Is" Connor Continued

"Awesome" The Stoll's said

"Yeah" Percy said "I miss my mom"

"How about we I.M her after this" Annabeth suggested

"That'll be great" Percy said and gave Annabeth a kiss

"Oh come on guys" Thalia complained "Get a room!"

"Ah my eyes!" Connor shouted

"911 help" Travis shouted and ran around the room

"Shut up!" The couple shouted

"Can we please read to get this thing over with!" Rachael shouted

And Nico continued reading

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

**"We'll be very careful."**

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**

**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**

Percy chuckled and everyone looked at him weirdly

"What are you doing?" Annabeth asked

"Oh I remembered Octavian"

"Who?" Grover asked

"He's the augur in Camp Jupiter kinda like the Oracle but Rachael's better" Jason explained

"Thanks" Rachael said

"You hate him too?" Percy asked

"Yup" Jason said "So much"

"Wait" Reyna said "What did you remember about him?"

"During the games **(A/N I forget what they called it can someone tell me?) **He was shouting orders but it looked like he was singing soprano" Percy said

Everyone burst out laughing

"He does that every time" Jason said

"Really?" Percy asked

"Yup" Jason said "One time I saw him at dad's temple I thought a unicorn was dying turns out to be Octavian"

At this everyone burst out laughing once more

When everyone calmed down Nico started reading again

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**

**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**

"It was all for you Perce" Grover said

"I know now" Percy said

**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."**

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

"gods that guy is stupid" Katie said "he makes the Stoll's look smart"

"Thanks Katie" Connor said

"Wait a minute…" Connor said realizing that what Katie said wasn't a compliment

"Hey" The Stoll's said

**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

**He went back to his game.**

**"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

"She knows you were lying" Hazel said

**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.**

**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

**An hour later we were ready to leave.**

**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.**

**"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**

Grover and Percy snickered

"The car will get a scratch?" Piper and Jason asked at the same time which cause them to blush and smile at each other

"_gods Piper is beautiful" Jason thought "I have the perfect girlfriend but I'm still confused with my feelings especially since Reyna's here, Reyna the girl who I used to have a huge crush on"_

**Like I'd be the one driving.**

"Yeah and you were twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame you" Annabeth said

Nico snickered before reading again

**I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

"Couples do think alike" Rachael said

The said couple blushed

"Don't worry you're not alone" Thalia said "right Jason?"

"Um" Jason said

"Well you gave the example earlier" Thalia said "Right Piper?"

"Um" Piper said

"See?"

"_So my suspicions were right" Reyna thought "They are a couple"_

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stair case as if he'd been shot from a cannon. Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**

**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**

**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets,**

"Spiders!" Annabeth shouted "You took me there for the weekend and there were spiders in the cabinet!"

"There weren't spiders in the cabinet during that time" Percy said "I swear I checked"

"You two went to Montauk?" Grover asked

"Yeah" Percy said "With mom and Paul"

**And most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**

"But it's not a problem to you" Chris said

"Nope not at all" Percy said "But before I found out who I am it was"

**I loved the place.**

"Of course you do" Clarisse said

**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**

"Awww" Piper said

"oh gods" Piper said "Mom!"

Thundered rumbled

"Mom!" Piper shouted again

"Sorry Sweetie" Aphrodite Shouted back "I won't do it again"

**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**

**I guess I should explain the blue food.**

"Yes cause I'm confused" Leo said

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash.**

**She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

"You're moms really smart" Reyna said

"Thanks" Percy said

"Yeah Prissy" Clarisse said "But what happened to you"

"I can be smart" Percy said "Sometimes"

"Right Annabeth?" Percy asked his girlfriend

"Yeah whatever"

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

"hmm" Leo said "Black hair check green eyes check yup you do"

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."**

**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

"Of course you're great seaweed brain" Annabeth said

"Yeah great friend" Grover said

"Great fighter" The Stoll's said

"Great Brother" Nico said

The others minus Grover, Rachael, Thalia and Annabeth looked at him confused

"What I treat Perce like a Brother" Nico said

"Yeah" Percy said "Mom even insisted that Nico calls mom, mom"

"She even insisted it on me" Annabeth said

**"How old was I?" I asked.**

"According to what I heard" Leo said "You're 16"

**"I mean ... when he left?"**

"Oh" Leo said

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**

**"But... he knew me as a baby."**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."**

**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**

"He visited you?" Chris asked

"Yeah"

"Lucky you" Chris said

The others nodded in agreement

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me...**

**I felt angry at my father.**

"We all feel it once in a while" Thalia said "Right guys?"

Everyone nodded

**Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**

**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."**

**"Because you don't want me around?"**

"Percy!" Annabeth said as she slapped Percy's arm

**I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

"Good" Annabeth said

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I**_**have**___**to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**

**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

"Awww poor Prissy"

"Shut up Clarisse" Percy said

**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**

"Were all not normal" Katie said

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

**"Safe from what?"**

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

**Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**

"Like Hercules" Frank said

"Yeah" Percy said weakly

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**

"You're not alone" Katie said

"Definetely not alone" Piper said

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**

**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."**

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

Not a school," Annabeth said "A summer camp."

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**

"Wow Annabeth just wow" Clarisse said "You even think like his mom"

**My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**

**"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**

"Women and their cries" Connor said and he got slapped by all the girls in the room

**That night I had a vivid dream.**

"I hate you're dreams" Annabeth said

**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.**

**The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**

**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed,**_**No!**_

**I woke with a start.**

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."**

**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**

"What do you mean?" Frank asked

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**

"He wasn't thinking" Clarisse said

**My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

"The monster attacks" Travis said

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

_**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!"**___**he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you**_**tell**___**her?"**

"No duh" Thalia said

**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be ...**

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before:**_**"Percy.**___**Tell me**_**now**_**!"**

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you.**_**Go**_**!**_**"**_

**Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**

**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**

"Finally" Travis said

"We finished the third chapter" Connor said

"But there's a lot more to go" Travis said

"Who's reading next?" Katie asked

"I will" Frank said "Since I'm beside Nico"

Nico handed the book to Frank

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**CHINFEV1203…..**


	7. My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting

**Authors Note: Please Vote on my Poll**

**Which character do you want to be added?**

**Good Luke- Meaning after the Last Olympian**

**B. Bad Luke- Meaning after the Titan's Curse**

**Vote, Vote, Vote**

**Oh **

**What couple am I doing?**

**Jasper**

**Or**

**Jeyna**

**The one that can answer it correctly first gets a special prize**

**Anyway here's the chapter ENJOY**

"**My Mother Teaches me Bullfighting,"**Frank read.

"That doesn't sound good" Hazel said

**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind shield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.**

"Wow" Leo said "Cool That must've been Great"

"Are you ok?" Percy asked

"Yeah" Leo said "Why?"

"You're weird" Percy said

"See?" Piper said "Even he knows you're weird and you just met him"

"I'm Not that weird" Leo said "Right Jason"

"Um" Jason said "I actually thought you were weird when I met you"

Leo pouted

**Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants.**

"Really Percy?" Annabeth said

"Oh give me a break I was 12"

**But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**

**All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"**

"Is it just me or that question sound wrong?" Travis asked

But no answer came

**Graver's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."**

**"Watching me?"**

"Stalker" The Stoll's said in a sing song voice

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I**_**am**___**your friend."**

**"Urn ... what**_**are**___**you, exactly?" **

**"That doesn't matter right now."**

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"**

**Grover let out a sharp, throaty**_**"Blaa-ha-ha!"**_

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**

**"Goat!" he cried.**

**"What?"**

**"I'm a**_**goat**___**from the waist down."**

**"You just said it didn't matter."**

"Really Percy?" Thalia asked "At a time like that that's what you ask?"

"Give me a break" Percy whined

_**"Blaa-ha-ha!**_ **There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"**

"I wonder what that'll look like" Chris asked

"What an example?"

"No,No Im good" Chris asked

**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"**

"Those weren't myths" Piper said

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a**_**myth,**___**Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

**"So you**_**admit**___**there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**

**"Of course."**

**"Then why—"**

**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes.**

"_Stupid mist" Piper thought_

**We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."**

**"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"**

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**

**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."**

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**

**"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."**

"Grover!" Annabeth shouted

**"Grover!"**

"Ha! Annabeth thinks like a mother" Leo Said

Suddenly there was a bright light

When the light died there was a note on the coffee table.

Nico took the note and read it

_The sun shines so bright_

_Annabeth's like a mother_

_Because she is one_

_-Apollo-_

"What!" Percy and Annabeth shouted

"Annabeth why didn't you tell me I thought I was your best friend" Thalia said hurt written all over her face "why didn't you tell me you were pregnant"

"Why didn't you tell us Annabeth?" Grover said

Everyone in the room except for the Romans, Rachael and Piper asked The couple question on why they didn't tell them that Annabeth was Pregnant.

"Wait a minute!" Piper shouted

Once she got everyone's attention she said

"How can Annabeth be pregnant Percy's been missing for months, and even if she was Pregnant don't you think her stomach would've been big by now"

"Oh yeah right" They all said

"Exactly My point thank you Piper" Annabeth said

"You're welcome"

There was another bright light,when the light died there was another note

_The sun beats the moon_

_I was joking or was I _

_Anyway just read_

_-Apollo-_

"What?" Leo said "I don't get it"

"Neither do we" Annabeth said

"Wow Annabeth doesn't get anything" Travis said

"This is serious" Connor said

"Oh shut up" Clarisse said "Let's continue reading to get this over with"

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**

**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**

**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.**

**"Where are we going?" I asked.**

"To Camp Half-Blood" Leo said

**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**

**"The place you didn't want me to go."**

**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**

**"Because some old ladies cut yarn."**

"Yeah because some old ladies cut yarn" Grover grumbled

**"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."**

"Grover you're just making it worse!" Annabeth said

"Sorry I was panicking" Grover defended himself

**"Whoa. You said 'you."**

"See?" Annabeth said

"Panicking" Grover said

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone."**

**"You meant 'you.' As in**_**me.**_**"**

"Well at least he figured out something" Clarisse said

**"I meant**_**you,**___**like 'someone.' Not you,**_**you.**_**"**

"Enough of that dilemma ok focus on the monsters chasing you if you don't want to die!" Annabeth yelled

"Were right here!" Percy and Grover yelled

"Ok ok no need to yell" Annabeth said

"But you just yelled" Grover said

"Can we Read now" Rachael said

**"Boys!" my mom said.**

**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**

"Wow" Leo said

Everyone starred at him

"What?" Leo said "I didn't know a mother can drive like that especially when her son is in the car"

**"What was that?" I asked.**

**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question.**

**"Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**

**I didn't know where**_**there**___**was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.**

"Yeah cause you'll find your girlfriend there" Rachael said

The couple blushed

"He was already excited even before he met her" Katie said

"And that's why there perfect for each other" Thalia said

"Shut up now" the couple hissed

And Frank continued reading

**Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really**_**hadn't**___**been human. She'd meant to kill me.**

"No duh of course she meant to kill you" Clarisse said "That's why monsters are here, to kill us"

**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling**_**boom!,**_**and our car exploded.**

**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.**

"It's like you related what you felt to you're powers" Travis said

"What?" Percy asked

"You know" Travis said "We'll get crushed by a building or something when you make an earthquake, we'll get fried when you make a volcano explode and we'll get hosed down by water when you make a tsunami or hurricane"

"Ok?" Percy said

"What it made perfect sense" Travis said

"Yeah, sure"

"I think it made sense" Connor said

"Thanks bro" Travis thanked his brother

**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."**

**"Percy!" my mom shouted.**

**"I'm okay..."**

**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**

"He told you not to get a scratch on it but it got more than a scratch" Frank said

"It got a really big scratch" Nico said

**Lightning.**

"Why is dad angry" Jason asked Thalia

"I don't know the entire story I wasn't there yet" Thalia answered

"What do you mean you weren't there yet?" Reyna asked

"It'll probably explain" Thalia answered

**That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"**

**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!**

"Thanks Perce" Grover said "Even if that was part insult"

"Sorry" Percy said "It was the ADHD"

"It's ok it was true anyway I am part barnyard animal" Grover said "But I prefer Satyr"

**Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.**

At this everyone laughed when everyone calmed down Frank continued reading.

**"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.**

**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**

**I swallowed hard. "Who is—"**

**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."**

**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.**

**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**

"Oh will you look at that I was mentioned" Thalia said

The Roman's plus the lost hero trio looked at her weirdly

"Like I said it'll explain" Thalia said

_**"What?"**_

**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**

**"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."**

"Wait" Piper said "How does she know what it looks like if she's never been there?"

"Poseidon probably described it for her" Annabeth said

**"Mom, you're coming too."**

"So loyal" Annabeth said

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**

**"No!" I shouted. "You**_**are**___**coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**

**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**

At this everyone laughed their heads off again

**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he**_**couldn't**___**be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns …**

"Is that who I think it is?" Reyna asked

"Yup" Percy and Annabeth answered

**"He doesn't want**_**us**_**," my mother told me. "He wants**_**you. **_**Besides, I can't cross the property line."**

"Why not?" Frank asked

"Because she's a mortal" Annabeth explained "Even if she was clear sighted, she can't cross because mortals aren't allowed unless given special permission"

Satisfied with the answer Frank continued reading.

**"But..."**

**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."**

**I got mad, then—mad at my mother, at Grover the goat,**

"Grover the goat" The Stoll's and Leo snickered

**At the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**

"Maybe because it was" Grover said

"Shhh don't spoil it" said Percy

**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**

**"I told you—"**

**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."**

**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.**

"What?" Asked Leo

"Surprisingly light doesn't mean he's not heavy it just means he's not as heavy as you expected" Piper said

"_She's smart for a daughter of Aphrodite" Reyna thought _

**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.**

**Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of**_**Muscle Man**___**magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except under wear—**

**I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms**

Everyone started laughing

"Seriously?" Chris asked once everyone calmed down

"Look at me I'm a monster I wear bright white fruit of the looms" Leo said

—**which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.**

**His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.**

"You actually compared it to a sharpener?" Nico asked

**I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.**

**I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"**

**"Pasiphae's son," my mother said.**

"Who in Hephaestus's name is Pasiphae and who's her son" Leo asked

"How did you survive him?" Piper asked

"I actually don't know" Percy answerd

"You know Pasiphae and her son?" Leo asked

"Don't you?" Piper asked

"NO"

"You'll see"

**"I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."**

**"But he's the Min—"**

**"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power"**

"Really smart mom you got there" Piper said

"thanks"

**The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least.**

**I glanced behind me again.**

**The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the win dows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.**

**"Food?" Grover moaned.**

**"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"**

"His sight and hearing are terrible" Piper said

"He goes by smell but he'll figure out where you are soon enough." Reyna said

The two smiled at each other

"_Maybe we can be friends" Reyna thought_

"_She's nice I think I'll talk to her later" Piper thought_

**"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."**

"Ok you two think like mom" Percy said

**As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.**

_**Not a scratch,**___**I remembered Gabe saying.**

**Oops.**

"Yeah oops" Katie and Travis said

"A very big oops for a very big scratch" Chris said

"And another couple think alike" Connor said

"We are NOT a couple" the two shouted

"Sure whatever you say" Rachael said

"Were telling the truth were not a couple" Travis said

"That doesn't mean you don't want to be a couple" Annabeth said

"We don't" Katie said

"Really?" Thalia asked

"Really" Travis and Katie said

"Sure" Connor said

"Say want you want to say" Chris said

The two looked like they were going to say something but Connor said

"Frank Read"

And Frank obliged

**"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"**

"Nice plan" Jason and Reyna said

**"How do you know all this?"**

**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."**

"How was that selfish?" Piper asked

**"Keeping me near you? But—"**

**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.**

**He'd smelled us.**

"You make it sound you smelled bad" Nico said

"At that time probably" Percy said "with the car crashing and all and the mud well you know"

**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.**

**The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.**

**My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."**

**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.**

"How do you even know?" Katie asked

"Gabe" Percy asked

**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.**

"Oh no" Hazel said "Did he…?"

"No"

**The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing.**

**So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.**

"You hadn't had training yet but you had good instincts" Jason complimented

**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.**

**We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.**

**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.**

**"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"**

**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**

"NO!" everyone who didn't know Sally was alive screamed

**"Mom!"**

**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"**

**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone.**

"NO!" again everyone who didn't know Sally was alive screamed

**"No!"**

**Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**

**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.**

**I couldn't allow that.**

**I stripped off my red rain jacket.**

**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**

**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.**

**I had an idea**

—**a stupid idea,**

"Oh great" Annabeth said sarcastically

**But better than no idea at all.**

"You have a point" Jason said

**I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.**

"That would've hurt me" Thalia said

The Roman's and the lost hero trio starred at her

"Thalia you wouldn't have felt it anyway" Annabeth said

"You'll…." Annabeth started

"You'll see we get it" Piper said

**But it didn't happen like that.**

**The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.**

**Time slowed down.**

**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.**

**How did I do that?**

**I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**

**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.**

**The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.**

**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.**

**"Food!" Grover moaned.**

**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light,** **and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might.**

**The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—**_**snap!**_

**The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.**

**The monster charged.**

**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.**

**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.**

**The monster was gone.**

"Oh my gods" Everyone minus Annabeth, Grover, Thalia, Rachael, Clarisse and Nico said

"That was so cool" Leo said

"I mean we heard of it but we didn't know how exactly" Travis said

"But wow just wow dude" Connor said

"You didn't had a weapon but you killed him" Piper said

And many more complements were thrown

Annabeth Didn't act like that well because she heard Percy mumble it in his sleep when he was in the infirmary and also Percy told her a bit more about it.

As for Nico and Thalia he was impressed but Percy told them about it too and they didn't feel like acting like a fan on Percy.

As for Grover he had the Empathy link with Percy.

As for Clarisse she was impressed but she doesn't want to show it.

**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish.**

**I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farm house. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn't going to let him go.**

"Thanks Perce" Grover said

**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's.**

"I wonder who that is" Thalis said

"A daughter of Athena perhaps" Rachael said

"_He called me pretty" Annabeth said_

And as if reading her thoughts Percy whispered "I still mean it you know"

"What?"She whispered back

"Calling you pretty"

"You don't look bad yourself Seaweed brain"

"Thanks"

**They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."**

"The one ha Annabeth" Thalia teased

"I didn't mean it like that" Annabeth said

**"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."**

"And that's the end of the Chapter" Frank said

"How about we take a break then have lunch" Rachael suggested

Everyone agreed.

**And there you go**

**Make sure to vote on my poll**

**And what do you want to see during the break?**

**Which couple do you want to have a little talk?**

**What couple am I doing? JASPER? Or JEYNA?**

**What do you want them to eat during lunch?**

**REVIEW**

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**CHINFEV1203….**


	8. Lunch

Frank placed the book down as everyone got up.

"Let's take a break and be back after an hour for lunch" Katie suggested

"Sounds good to me" Piper said

And everyone agreed

They went their separate ways to chat, hang out or to explore the room or should I say House they were in.

Piper walked by Reyna and Said "Hi"

"Hello" Reyna said in a serious tone that'll make you think she's a queen, well she is actually considering her name means queen.

"You plan on doing anything for the break?" Piper asked

"I think I'll stay in my room" Said Reyna "How about you Piper?"

"Nothing really" she answered "But do you want to hang around and chat?"

"That sounds nice"

They went to Reyna's room and chatted and surprisingly they had fun like normal girls, considering their not normal. They talked like they've known each other for years and not for a day. But the boy they both like, the boy named Jason Grace never entered their conversation, so it wasn't awkward at all.

_Meanwhile…_

"Hi Hazel" Katie greeted

"Oh Hi Katie"

"Want to come with me and the others"

"Where?"

"The game room, to chat, play a few games…."

"Sure"

The girls talked about random things, quest, training and other things that popped into their conversations. Until Rachael asked

"Hey, where are Piper and Reyna?"

"I don't know" Katie said

"Maybe they're at their respective rooms" Thalia said

"Or maybe their together, hanging out, just like us" Annabeth said

"Maybe" Clarisse said "But you could be wrong"

"Want to bet?" Annabeth asked

"You're on" Clarisse said "10 drachmas their not together"

"10 drachmas their talking" Annabeth said

"Deal" Clarisse said

And they shook hands to close the deal.

A few minutes past before Connor came by and said

"I'm hungry can we eat now?"

"You're always hungry" Thalia said

"Blame my tummy, it's hungry it needs food and care" Connor said

"Ok….?" Katie said "Bring your tummy to the kitchen so it can have its _food _and _care_"

"Come on" Rachael said "Lunch time girls"

The girls stood up and went to the kitchen. When they got there they found the boys already sitting around the huge dining table.

"Um where's the food?" Leo asked

"Yeah, shouldn't Apollo make it appear by now?" Travis asked

"Hey guys" Piper said when she entered the kitchen, together with Reyna.

"Hey Piper, Hey Reyna" Rachael greeted

"Where have you been?" Katie asked

"We were at my room talking" Reyna Replied

"Ha!" Annabeth said "Pay up Clarisse"

Clarisse grumbled but gave Annabeth 10 drachmas

"What was that about?" Piper asked

But before Annabeth could answer, a bright light appeared.

When the light died, there on the table was a big bowl of Beef Curry,which is very ironic because they just read about the Minotaur. **(The idea for the Curry is from ****Catty98)**

"Um how about me?" Piper asked

"And me?" Grover asked

Another bright light appeared and when it died. A bowl of salad was on the table next to the Curry with a note that said

"_**A tasty salad**_

_**It's for the Vegetarian**_

_**And of course the goat"**_

"Satyr!" Grover shouted

Another light appeared when it vanished there was another note.

"_**A tasty salad**_

_**It's for the Vegetarian**_

_**And for the Satyr"**_

_**Are you Happy now?**_

"Yes, Very" Grover said

"Ok, let's Eat!" Travis shouted

**Well there you have it**

**Wow, it's been long since I updated this story huh?**

**I have to admit I um had a bit of writers block on this story but now **

**I'm back!**

**Who missed me?**

**Hahaha**

**Anyway don't forget to vote on my poll**

**And of course to REVIEW**

**So do you like it? Or do you hate it? Or do you Love it?**

**REVIEW **

**CHINFEV1203**


	9. I Play Pinochle With a Horse

After Lunch the Demigods made their way back to the living room.

And Travis being himself ran towards the living room causing him to trip and fall face first, which caused the demigods into a fit of laughter but their fit of laughter isn't over yet cause as Travis was about to stand up he bumped his head on the coffee table which caused another fit of laughter.

"Some friends" Travis grumbled

"Sorry we can't help it bro" Connor said

They all sat down

"**I Play Pinochle With a Horse,"**Hazel Read

**I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.**

"You have the weirdest dreams" Thalia said

"You can say that again" Percy said

"You" Connor started

"I didn't mean it literally

"Oh" was all Connor could say

**I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense,**

"You make no sense" Clarisse said

"Hey" Percy said

Clarisse was about to say something but was cut off when Hazel continued reading

**So I just passed out again. I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.**

"And our favorite couple starts" Katie said

**When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"**

"Seriously Annabeth?" Thalia asked

"Sorry"

**I managed to croak, "What?"**

"Real smart there lover boy" Leo said

"Oh like you could do better" Piper snapped

**She looked around, as if afraid someone would over hear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"**

**"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."**

**Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.**

"Easiest way to shut him up" Connor said in a British accent "I see"

"What's wrong with you" Rachael asked

"Nothing madam" he replied

"Continue reading Hazel" Katie said "Please"

**The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.**

"Missing her already?" Travis teased

"They are inseparable" Chris said "that's why Annabeth was a total mess when Percy went missing"

"What?" Annabeth asked holding her dagger

"Nothing" Chris said

**A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes- at least a dozen of them- on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.**

"Wow" Hazel and Frank said at the same time

"That's Argus" Annabeth said "Head Security"

**When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries.**

**There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.**

"How do you know that" Piper asked

"I just do" Percy said and shrugged

**On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.**

**My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.**

**"Careful," a familiar voice said.**

**Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week.**

**Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover, Not the goat boy.**

"See?" Thalia said "He called you goat boy too when he first found out about you"

"Thalia his different you already knew about the Mythical world even before you met me, Percy didn't" Grover said

"But still it was the first time I saw a Satyr" Thalia said "what else would I call you?"

"Um Satyr?" Grover said "And besides you've met Amaltheia"

"She's different" Thalia said

"Hate to interrupt but" Clarisse said "Can you continue that later!"

"Ok, ok" Thalia said

"Who's Amalea?" Leo asked

"Amaltheia" Thalia corrected "She's the foster mother of Zeus,she's a goat with amber eyes and a bronze collar around her neck and…."

"Can we continue now?" Clarisse asked impatiently

"Ok ok" Thalie said

**So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And...**

**"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."**

**Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.**

**Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.**

**"The Minotaur," I said.**

"Don't you know that saying the name is bad Prissy?" Clarisse asked

"I know that now" Percy said

**"Urn, Percy, it isn't a good idea-"**

**"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."**

**Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"**

**"My mom. Is she really ..."**

**He looked down.**

**I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.**

"Aww thanks Kelp head" Thalia said

**My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.**

"That's deep man" Chris said

"I can be deep when I want to" Percy said

"I know exactly what you feel Percy" Leo said

"You do?" Percy asked

"Yeah, my mom died when I was 8" Leo said sadly

"I'm sorry to hear that Leo" Percy said "But you're not alone, you have us, were your new family"

"Thanks" Leo said now happy

**"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm- I'm the worst satyr in the world."**

"Grover!" Thalia shouted "you're not a failure, and you're the BEST Satyr in the world"

"She's right G-man" Percy said "You're the best"

"I think we all agree on that one" Annabeth said "right guys?"

There was a chorus of Yeah's, Yes , Of course and the like

**He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.**

**"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.**

**Thunder rolled across the clear sky.**

**As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it.** **Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head.**

"Hmm never thought of that" Travis said "Let's try it"

"NO!" Grover shouted

And everyone erupted to fits of laughter

**But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.**

**I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe?**

**No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. I'd do something.**

"Pretend you were Seventeen?" Clarisse said "You barely looked Twelve"

"Whatever, Give me a break, I was miserable back then" Percy said

**Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid- poor goat, satyr, whatever- looked as if he expected to be hit.**

**I said, "It wasn't your fault."**

**"Yes, it was. I was supposed to**_**protect**___**you."**

**"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"**

**"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."**

**"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.**

**"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.**

**I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies.**

"I'm hungry" Connor said

"When are you ever full" Katie said "And besides you just ate lunch"

"Yeah but I'm hungry" Connor said "can I go get some cookies from the kitchen or anything edible"

"Yeah Sure whatever, as long as you bring something for us" Travis said

"Ok" Connor said, and got up and went to the kitchen

**And not just any cookies- my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.**

"Everything's going to be ok Percy" Travis said who got up in an attempt to impersonate Percy's mom. But was pulled down by Katie before he could.

**Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.**

**"Was it good?" Grover asked.**

**I nodded.**

**"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.**

**"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."**

**His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."**

**"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Home made."**

**He sighed. "And how do you feel?"**

**"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."**

"That's good right?" Hazel asked

"Yup" Percy said

**"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"**

**"What do you mean?"**

**He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."**

"Mr.D?" Frank asked

"Dionysus" Rachael said "Our camp director, wine god, son of Zeus"

"Bacchus to you" Annabeth said

**The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.**

**My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.**

**As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.**

**We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture**

**an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.**

**Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.**

**The man facing me was small, but porky.**

**He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels- what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park.**

"Cherubs ha?" Connor said who was now back with a big bowl of Cookies "Mr.D won't like that Description"

"Where did that come from?" Chris asked

"I don't know" Connor said "I just found them on the kitchen"

"Then what took you so long?" Katie asked

"I ate a few"

"Ok" Travis said "Now give me some"

**He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my step father.**

**"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite.**

"Prissy, be polite not going to happen" Clarisse said

"Yeah, the guys got a natural talent on pissing off gods" Thalia said

**The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper,**

"Just a camper?" Annabeth asked studying her dagger

"Umm errr" Grover said "Continue reading Hazel, Please"

**but she's been here longer than just about anybody.**

**And you already know Chiron..."**

**He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.**

**First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.**

**"Mr. Brunner!" I cried.**

**The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers**_**B**_**.**

**"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."**

**He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."**

**"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because,**_**if**___**there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.**

**"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.**

**She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."**

"Eleven?" Reyna asked

"Hermes" Annabeth Answered "That's where unclaimed demigods go"

**Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."**

**She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking.**

**With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like,**

"Almost?" Annabeth asked

**except her eyes ruined the image.**

"So you don't like my eyes?" Annabeth asked Percy

"Um NO it's just that.." Percy said "Oh keep reading Hazel"

**They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty,**

"See?" Percy said

**but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.**

"I probably was" Annabeth said

**She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say,****You killed a minotaur!****or****Wow, you're so awesome!****or something like that.**

"Seriously?" Annabeth said "You actually thought I would say that?"

**Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."**

The whole room burst out laughing. While Percy blushed crimson red

**Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.**

"Aww" Connor said "Isn't that sweet, someone has a crush on little Annie"

"What did you say?" Annabeth asked?

"Nothing" Connor said stuffing a handful of cookies in his mouth

**"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"**

**"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex-Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."**

**"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"**

**Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."**

**"Oh. Right. Sorry."**

**"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."**

**"House call?"**

**"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."**

**I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.**

**"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.**

"Ego" Thalia said

**Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first.**

"And now it's out the window" Nico said

**We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."**

**"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"**

**"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.**

**"You****do**__**know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.**

**"I'm afraid not," I said.**

**"I'm afraid not,****sir****," he said.**

**"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.**

"You're not the only one" All the campers who knew Mr.D said

**"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all ****civilized**__**young men to know the rules."**

**"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.**

**"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun-Chiron-why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"**

**Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."**

**The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.**

**Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was,**_**I**___**was his star student. He expected**_**me**___**to have the right answer.**

**"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'**

**"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."**

**"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"**

**"What?" I asked.**

**He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.**

**"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."**

**"Orientation film?" I asked.**

"There's an orientation film?" Piper asked

"Yeah" Annabeth said

"How come I don't know about that?" Piper asked

"Well we were busy about the Argo 2 and everything, guess we forgot to tell you about it" Annabeth said

**"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know-" he pointed to the horn in the shoe box- "that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods- the forces you call the Greek gods- are very much alive."**

**I stared at the others around the table.**

**I waited for somebody to yell,**_**Not!**___**But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.**

**"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"**

**"Eh? Oh, all right."**

**Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.**

**"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as god."**

**"Well, now," Chiron said. "God- capital**_**G**_**, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."**

**"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about-"**

**"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."**

**"Smaller?"**

**"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."**

**"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."**

**And there it was again-distant thunder on a cloud less day.**

**"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."**

**"But they're stories," I said. "They're- myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."**

**"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"**

**-I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody- "what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals- they have absolutely no sense of perspective.**

**They think they've come**_**so-o-o**___**far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."**

**I wasn't liking Mr. D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if... he wasn't.**

"He isn't" Rachael said

"I know" Percy said

**It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.**

**"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that**_**immortal**___**means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"**

"I can imagine" Percy said "And I don't like it"

"You had the chance to become one" Chris said "But you gave it up"

"It was worth it" Percy said looking at Annabeth

**I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.**

**"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.**

**"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that some day people would call**_**you**___**a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"**

**My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."**

**"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."**

**Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."**

**"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe.'"**

**He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.**

**My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.**

**"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."**

"Restrictions?" Jason asked

"It'll explain later" Percy said "Maybe"

**Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.**

**"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"**

**More thunder.**

**Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.**

**Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."**

**"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.**

**"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time- well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away- the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair."**

"Oh" Jason said

**Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.**

**"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..."**

**"Di immortales**_**,**___**Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."**

**I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.**

**"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."**

"Wine dude" Nico muttered

"What?" Hazel asked

"Nothing" Nico said

**Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"**

**"Y-yes, Mr. D."**

**"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"**

**"You're a god."**

**"Yes, child."**

**"A god. You."**

"Really Perce? Really?" Rachael asked

Percy just shrugged

**He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.**

**"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.**

**"No. No, sir."**

**The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."**

**"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."**

**I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.**

**"I'm tired," Mr. D said.**

**"I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk,**_**again,**___**about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."**

**Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."**

**Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."**

**He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.**

**"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.**

**Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."**

**"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"**

**"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."**

**"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in**_**America**_**?"**

**"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."**

**"The what?"**

**"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know- or as I hope you know, since you passed my course- the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps- Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on- but the same forces, the same gods."**

**"And then they died."**

**"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture.**

**People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not- and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either**

**- America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."**

**It was all too much, especially the fact that**_**I**___**seemed to be included in Chiron's**_**we,**___**as if I were part of some club.**

"Well if you put it that way" Connor said "It's more of a….. I don't know….species?"

"What the Hades Connor?" Clarisse asked

"What? It makes perfect sense" Connor said

"Just shut up Connor" Annabeth said

**"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?"**

"You my friend are Hazel Levesque" Travis said

Hazel stared at him "Ummm" she said but decided to continue reading.

**Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.**

**"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to 'meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be smores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."**

**And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.**

**I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.**

**"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."**

"And that's the end of the chapter" Hazel said

"Who's next?" Connor asked

"That'll be me" Reyna said and Hazel gave her the book.

**A/N**

**First of all I am so so so Sorry for not updating faster **

**I would've updated earlier but I sort of accidentally deleted the first copy of this chapter so I had to do it all over again and I didn't have much time this November and December.**

**So anyway I hope you enjoy this Chapter though I don't think that this is my best Chapter anyway….**

**Remember to vote on my poll…**

**Oh and random question that I would want you to answer that is if you want to answer it.**

***If a guy comes to your house and greets you a Happy Birthday does that mean he likes you or does that mean nothing?**

**CHINFEV1203 signing out…**


	10. I Become Supreme Lord Of The Bathroom

**"I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom,"**Reyna read

**Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, we had a nice tour, though I was careful not to walk behind him. I'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few times, and, I'm sorry, I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front.**

"I don't trust his back end either" Nico said

**We passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the Minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said, "That's**_**him**_**."**

"Who was that?" Leo asked

"Hm" Percy said "I can't remember

**Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.**

**I looked back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than I'd realized—four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.**

**"What's up there?" I asked Chiron.**

**He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."**

**"Somebody lives there?"**

**"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."**

"Yeah" Connor said "But there's a NON- living thing in the attic"

"What do you mean?" Leo asked "It's not like there's a mummy in there"

"Actually…" Katie said

"A mummy was living in the attic" Clarisse said

"What?" Leo asked "That is so cool!"

"What is a mummy doing in your camp?" Reyna asked

"She was the oracle" Clarisse said

Everyone who didn't know looked at Rachael.

"That was the oracle before me" she said

**I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.**

"The mummy moves!" Leo said

Everyone stared at him.

"What?" Leo asked "the mummy did move"

"Whatever Leo" Piper said

**"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."**

**We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.**

Leo turned to Piper and said "Hey there Pipe" and poked her shoulder

"Leo!"

"What?" he said coolly "Read Pipe, get it? Because your Piper, your dad calls you 'Pipes' and…"

"Just shut up Leo before you get hurt" Annabeth said

**Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."**

"No effort at all?" Hazel asked "What do you mean?"

"Wait for it" Percy said

**He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, so they grew strawberries instead.**

**I watched the satyr playing his pipe. **

"There you are again PIPEr!" Shouted Leo "Man Piper satyrs love you"

"Leo did I ever tell you the old Cherokee story of how a girl named Piper killed a boy named Leo?" Piper said as she pulled out Katoptris.

"Um no" Leo said standing up heading for his room "I don't think I want to hear that story

"To bad cause I'm telling you the story" She said "Better yet let me_ show_ you"

Leo ran as fast as he can towards his room, Piper chasing after him.

"Jason" Rachael said "Aren't you going to stop your girlfriend from killing your best friend?"

"I will" he said "after 30 minutes"

"Make it an hour" Thalia said

Everyone looked at her "What his annoying"

"You're just annoyed because he flirts with you" Connor said

"Seriously?" Percy asked

"Yup" Annabeth answered

"He still hasn't stop even after you hit him with lightning?" Percy asked

"Um no I never thought of that" Thalia said "But I will next time, thanks for the idea kelp head"

"Leo's lucky" Percy murmured

"Why?" Jason asked "Did Thalia hit you with lightning or something?"

"Yup"

Jason was about to say something but got interrupted by a screaming Leo being chased by Piper.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Jaaaaaaasoooooonnnn get your girlfriend under control"

"I will but I'm too lazy to do it" Jason said "Good luck repair boy"

"I thought you were my friend" he said as he ducked.

"I am"

"Then help me!" he shouted

"Hmm let me think about it…" he said "What do you think Thals?"

"I say give it an hour before you help him"

"Thalia!" shouted Leo as he hid behind Travis while Piper tries to grab him.

"What? you're annoying"

"Stay away from me, Piper might kill me to!" Travis said as he stood up

Leo ran and hid behind Chris, Leo ended up getting pushed by Clarisse.

"Clarisse!" Leo shouted

"What? You're annoying" She said repeating Thalia's words from earlier.

Leo stood up and hid behind Jason screaming "Jason help!"

"Ok ok I'll help you" Jason said "On one condition"

"I'll do anything!" at this Thalia, Piper and Jason smirked.

"Kneel in front of my sister and tell her that you'll never ever flirt with her ever again"

Leo did as he was told as Piper sat down beside Jason.

"Nice job Pipes" Thalia said as Leo sits down beside Piper

"You planned this?" Annabeth asked Thalia

"Yup" She answered "Piper, Jason and I just waited for the time when Leo will either insult or tease Piper or Jason, we know he'll do it because….His well Leo"

"I hate all of you" Leo muttered

"Whatever" Thalia said

**His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music.**

"I could" Grover said

**I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.**

**"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really."**

"Thanks Perce" Grover said

"Anytime G-man"

**Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horses back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable.**

"Your dreams did come true Grover" Thalia said

Grover smiled

"What dreams?" Leo asked

"You'll see" Thalia said

**To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."**

**"But he did that!"**

"I have to agree with Kelp Head on that one" Thalia said

**"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge.**

**Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate ... ah ... fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."**

**I wanted to protest. None of what happened was Grover's fault. I also felt really, really guilty. If I hadn't given Grover the slip at the bus station, he might not have gotten in trouble.**

"Don't be sorry Percy" Grover said "Things happen for a reason"

**"He'll get a second chance, won't he?"**

**Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that**_**was**___**Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago. Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age..."**

"What happened during the first time?" Leo asked and Thalia winced

No one answered Leo's question. So Reyna continued reading after moments of silence.

**"How old is he?"**

**"Oh, twenty-eight."**

**"What! And he's in sixth grade?"**

**"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."**

**"That's horrible."**

"That's awesome!" Leo said

Everyone looked at him like he came from Mars.

"What?" he asked coolly "It is"

**"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career..."**

**"That's not fair," I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"**

**Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"**

**But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop. Something had occurred to me when Chiron talked about my mother's fate, as if he were intentionally avoiding the word**_**death.**___**The beginnings of an idea—a tiny, hopeful fire—started forming in my mind.**

"Someone said Fire?" Leo asked lighting his hands on fire, Frank jumped up from the couch.

"Leo!" Rachael cried

"Whaaaat? I'm bored and hungry" he whined

"We just ate lunch a chapter ago" Rachael said

"But I'm hungry"

"How about this after this chapter we'll take a break and snacks is that ok?" Annabeth said

"Very" Leo said smiling

"Will you shut up now?" Thalia asked

"Yes Ma'am" he said and saluted

**"Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..."**

**"Yes, child?"**

**"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"**

"That's pretty smart of you Percy" Connor said

"I have my moments"

"But your still a seaweed brain" Travis said

"Hey! He's _**my **_Seaweed brain, and only I call him that" Annabeth said

Percy chuckled, and then stared into Annabeth's eyes; she stared back and before they could realize what they were doing, they started to lean to each other, their lips an inch apart, but before they could break the distance between the Thalia cleared her throat.

"We will greatly appreciate if the both of you will do what you were about to do without us watching" Thalia said in a British accent

The two blushed 10 shades of Red and muttered an apology.

"Please continue reading Reyna" Thalia said once again in a British accent

"Did you and the hunters go to England or something?" Chris asked

"Yup, we recruited some hunters there" Thalia answered

**Chiron's expression darkened.**

**"Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now...until we know more ...I would urge you to put that out of your mind."**

**"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"**

**"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."**

**As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.**

**Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."**

**"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?"**

**"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"**

**"My own—?"**

**"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armory later."**

**I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armory, but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, **

"Ah your favorite part of camp; the canoe lake" Connor said

"Correction my dear brother, Annabeth and his favorite part of camp" Travis said with a knowing smirk

Everyone but Leo, Piper, Jason, Hazel, Frank, Reyna and the said couple snickered

"What do you mean by that?" Piper asked

"You see my dear sister, these two" she said pointing to Annabeth and Percy "Had the and I quote 'the best under water kiss of all time' in that lake"

Again the said couple turned 10 shades of red

"Dear sister?" Leo asked "Piper's not your sister"

"I meant sister-in-law idiot"

"Gasp" Leo said "You two are married, and I wasn't invited"

Jason and Thalia face palmed while Piper blushed.

"Sister-in-law in the future, it's bound to happen, I mean look at them" Thalia said pointing at her bother and Piper.

Everyone did look at them and saw how close they were sitting next to each other, with Jason's arms around Piper's waist.

"Okay stop looking at us, it's awkward" Piper said still blushing.

Reyna cleared her throat and started reading again. Everyone returned their attention to the book, Piper smiled gratefully at Reyna, and she smiled back.

**the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much),**

"Of course he doesn't" Connor said

**the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.**

**"Sword and spear fights?" I asked.**

**"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal. Usually. Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall."**

**Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.**

**"What do you do when it rains?" I asked.**

**Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird.**

**"We still have to eat, don't we?" I decided to drop the subject.**

"So you eat in the rain?" Frank asked

"Um No" Rachael said "You see the camp has…. We'll you'll see"

**Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen.**

**Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory.**

"Hey that's our cabin!" Leo said

**Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass.**

Katie smiled

**Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at.**

"Even the owner of the cabin is impossible to look at" Thalia muttered

**They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed).**

**In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined firepit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick**

"You saw her" Annabeth said

"Yeah" Percy answered

**The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them.**

**Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.**

**"Zeus and Hera?" I guessed.**

**"Correct," Chiron said.**

**"Their cabins look empty."**

**"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."**

**Okay. So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot.**

Everyone laughed at the mention of the mascot.

**Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But why would some be empty?**

**I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three.**

"Wow" Katie murmured

**It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. **

"They were" Annabeth said

"I didn't know that yet" Percy said

**I peeked inside the open doorway and Chiron said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!"**

**Before he could pull me back, I caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone.**

**There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down. But there was no sign anyone had ever slept there. The place felt so sad and lonely, I was glad when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Come along, Percy."**

**Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.**

**Number five was bright red—a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists.**

"Watch your mouth Jackson" Clarisse said

"Yeah yeah whatever" Percy said

**The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me. Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer.**

**She reminded me of Nancy Bobofit, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking,**

"You bet I am" Clarisse said

**and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.**

**I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed.**

**"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."**

**"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..."**

**He smiled down at me.****"The****Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."**

**"But, shouldn't you be dead?"**

**Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about**_**should**___**be. The truth is, I**_**can't**___**be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish ... and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."**

**I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.**

**"Doesn't it ever get boring?"**

**"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."**

**"Why depressing?"**

**Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.**

**"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."**

"Yes Percy your Precious Annabeth is waiting for you" Rachael said

**The blond girl I'd met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.**

"The best cabin in camp" the Stoll brother's said

"No it isn't" Katie argued

"Yes it is" Travis said

"No it isn't"

"Yes it is"

"No!"

"Yes!

"No!

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!" Katie said

"No!" Travis said and quickly covered his mouth "I didn't mean that"

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't!"

"Will you two stop flirting and shut the Hades up!" Clarisse shouted

"Hey I take offence to that!" Nico said

"I don't care!" Clarisse shouted

"We weren't flirting" Travis and Katie said at the same time

"Yes you were now shout up" Clarisse said "read Reyna"

**When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled.**

"I was not!" Annabeth shouted

"Yes you were" Percy argued

"No I wasn't"

Then what were you thinking about at that time?"

"I... t-that's none of your business"

"Can you two argue later?" Leo asked "So Reyna can finish reading this chapter, then we can eat"

**I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title. I thought my dyslexia was acting up. Then I realized the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to me. I mean, literally Greek.**

**There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.**

**"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"**

**"Yes, sir."**

**"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."**

**Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on**_**old.**_

"Regular?" Travis asked

"Old?" Connor asked

**The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it... ?**

**A caduceus.**

**Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.**

**Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.**

**"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."**

**He galloped away toward the archery range.**

**I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. I knew this routine. I'd gone through it at enough schools.**

**"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."**

**So naturally I tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of myself.**

"Naturally?" Rachael asked

Percy shrugged

**There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.**

**Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."**

**"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.**

**I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."**

**Everybody groaned.**

**A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward.**

**"Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."**

**The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.**

**"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow. I glanced over and could've sworn she was blushing.**

Everyone at the room looked at Annabeth.

"Why are you all looking at me?" She asked

"I didn't know you had a crush on Luke Annabeth" Chris said

"Oh please that was in the past" She said

"Yeah" Thalia said "Right before she fell for kelp head over here"

**She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor for now."**

**"For now?" I asked.**

**"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."**

**I looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as my own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. I thought about setting that down, but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.**

"Awww" Travis said "Your no fun"

**I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.**

**"How long will I be here?" I asked.**

**"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."**

**"How long will that take?"**

**The campers all laughed.**

**"Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you the volleyball court."**

**"I've already seen it."**

**"Come on." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside. I could hear the kids of cabin eleven laughing behind me.**

"Rushing out Annie?" Clarisse said

"Shut up"

**When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."**

**"What?"**

**She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."**

"The one?" Katie said "What do you mean by that?"

"I meant the kid of the prophecy"

"Of course you meant that" Connor said

"Shut up Stoll"

**"What's your problem?" I was getting angry now. **

"Annabeth don't get your boy friend angry1" Leo shouted

**"All I know is, I kill some bull guy—"**

**"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"**

"Hmm let's see" Connor said stroking an invisible beard "The Ares cabin and you"

**"To get killed?"**

**"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"**

**I shook my head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was**_**the**___**Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..."**

**"Yes."**

**"Then there's only one."**

**"Yes."**

**"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago,**

"Gajillion isn't a word Percy" Reyna said

"Please just read Reyna" Percy said

**right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."**

**"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."**

**"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."**

**"They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them arche types. Eventually, they re-form."**

**I thought about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword—"**

**"The Fur ... I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."**

**"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"**

**"You talk in your sleep."**

"Did you hear something embarrassing?" Thalia asked

"Yup" Annabeth said

"Tell me, tell me" Thalia said like a little girl asking for candy

Everyone looked at her funny

"What it can be used for blackmail" She said

"Later" Annabeth said

"Annaaaaaaaabeth!" Percy whined

"Please read Reyna" Annabeth said

**"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"**

**Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her.**

**"You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."**

**"Look, is there anything we**_**can**___**say without it thundering?" I sounded whiny, even to myself, but right then I didn't care.**

**"Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."**

**I pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or ... your parent."**

**She stared at me, waiting for me to get it.**

**"My mom is Sally Jackson," I said.**

**"She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."**

**"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."**

**"He's dead. I never knew him."**

**Annabeth sighed. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids.**

**"Your father's not dead, Percy."**

**"How can you say that? You know him?"**

**"No, of course not."**

**"Then how can you say—"**

**"Because I know**_**you.**_ **You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."**

**"You don't know anything about me."**

**"No?" She raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."**

**"How—"**

**"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."**

**I tried to swallow my embarrassment. "What does that have to do with anything?"**

**"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek.** **And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battle field reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."**

**"You sound like ... you went through the same thing?"**

**"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."**

**"Ambrosia and nectar."**

**"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."**

**A half-blood.**

**I was reeling with so many questions I didn't know where to start.**

**Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"**

"Can we skip that and eat?" Clarisse asked

"Oh no!" Percy said "We are reading that, please continue Reyna"

**I looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin was sauntering toward us. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.**

"I swear Jackson-" Clarisse started but was cut off with Reyna

**"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"**

**"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."**

_**''Erre es korakas!"**_ **Annabeth said, which I somehow under stood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded. "You don't stand a chance."**

**"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat. She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?"**

**"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "Meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."**

**I blinked. "Like ... the war god?"**

**Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"**

**"No," I said, recovering my wits. "It explains the bad smell."**

**Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbie's, Prissy."**

**"Percy."**

**"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."**

**"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.**

**"Stay out of it, wise girl."**

"So that's where you got the nickname!" Rachael said

**Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it,** **and I didn't really want her help. I was the new kid. I had to earn my own rep.**

**I handed Annabeth my Minotaur horn and got ready to fight, but before I knew it, Clarisse had me by the neck and was dragging me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately was the bathroom.**

**I was kicking and punching. I'd been in plenty of fights before, but this big girl Clarisse had hands like iron.**

**She dragged me into the girls' bathroom. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking—as much as I****could**__**think with Clarisse ripping my hair out—that if this place belonged to the gods, they should've been able to afford classier johns.**

**Clarisse's friends were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I'd used to fight the Minotaur, but it just wasn't there.**

**"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets.**

**"Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."**

**Her friends snickered.**

**Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.**

"No I wa-" Annabeth started but was cut off with Leo shouting

"Stop interrupting so we can eat"

**Clarisse bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl. It reeked like rusted pipes **

Leo snickered but didn't talk

**and, well, like what goes into toilets. I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't.**

**Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach.**

**I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes **

Another snicker from Leo

**shudder. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over my head, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind me.**

**I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so hard it pushed her down onto her butt.**

**The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall.**

**She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her.**

**But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away.**

**As soon as they were out the door, I felt the tug in my gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started.**

**The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth hadn't been spared.**

**She was dripping wet, but she hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in exactly the same place, staring at me in shock.**

**I looked down and realized I was sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have one drop of water on my clothes. Nothing.**

**I stood up, my legs shaky.**

**Annabeth said, "How did you ..."**

**"I don't know."**

**We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. She gave me a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."**

**I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."**

**Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.**

**Annabeth stared at me. I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her.**

**"What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"**

**"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."**

"And that's the end of the chapter" Reyna said

"Yessss! Finally we can eat!" Leo shouted

A bright light engulfed the room and Leo shouted "food from Apollo wohoooo!"

When the light died the room became bigger, the couches longer, and another couch was added. So from the square shape line of couches, became a rectangle, whose tip was cut off. On the new couch, which was placed next to Thalia sat a boy who was muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair, blue eyes and a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw.

Everyone except Leo was shocked.

"Who's him?" Leo asked "His not food, is Apollo expecting us to eat him or something?"

"Valdez!" Piper said slapping him upside the head.

"L-luke?" Thalia asked

"Hey Guys" Luke said smiling

"What date or time did you come from?" Annabeth asked

Luke chuckled and said "Same old Annabeth, a few months after the titan war, April or May I think"

"And before you ask" Luke said "I'm not evil anymore, and the Fates brought me back temporarily to read the book with you guys, oh and by the way Annabeth, Percy congratulations I'm happy for the both of you"

"Congratulations for what?" Percy asked

"You two are a couple now aren't you?"

"Oh" Percy said "Um yeah"

"Wait his Luke?" Jason said "From the chapter earlier?"

"Yup" Annabeth said

"The one you had a crush on?" Leo asked

"Shut up Valdez" Annabeth said

"New campers?" Luke asked

"Yeah" Travis said

"I'm Piper" Piper said smiling "Daughter of Aphrodite

"Nice to meet you Piper" Luke said

"Jason Grace" Jason said "Son of Jupiter"

"Wait Grace?" Luke asked

"My brother" Thalia said

"You have a brother?" Luke asked "how come you didn't tell me?"

Thalia shrugged

"So his your full brother?"

"Sort of… yeah" Thalia said "Dad had him on his roman form, so yeah full brother"

"Yeah, the fates explained to me about the whole roman camp thing"

"So anyway I am Leo 'the amazing and hot' Valdez, Team Leo all the way" Leo said standing up and bowing

"Is he-" Luke started

"Mental?" Thalia asked

"Um no I was going to ask if he was a son of Hermes" Luke said

"No" Leo said standing on the couch "I am the son of the Awesome though not very good with people god, Hephaestus!"

"Sit down Leo" Annabeth said

"Never!"

"Leo!" Thalia yelled

"Ok" he said then sat down

"Okay" Luke said laughing "And you guys are?" he asked gesturing to Reyna, Frank and Hazel

"Reyna, Praetor of Camp Jupiter" Reyna said

Luke nodded smiling

"Hazel Levesque, Daughter of Pluto" Hazel said and smiled, Luke smiled back

"Frank Zang, son of Mars" Frank said

"Nice to meet all of you" Luke said

"Oh and I'm Luke Castellan, son of Hermes"

"Now that the introductions are over" Leo said "Can we eat now please?"

"Sure, let's go to the kitchen" Annabeth said

"Yes! Finally!" Leo shouted

"Leo what will we do with you?" Piper asked

"Let me eat!" he said

**Sooo how was the chapter?  
**

**Luke has joined the party! And many more will join soon!**

**Like it? Hate it? Love it?**

**Please Review!**

**Chinfev1203**


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